Archive - For historical reference only - 2001

[current information: www.5by5.com/aviators/]

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August 25
Some photos taken on the pre-event trip.
Fetching some of the Airport equipments from the rows at the Work Ranch.
Sunrise shows the surface in the Port of Entry's main public area.
The beginning of a Port of Entry
Raising the windsock pole after sunset.

August 24
Too burned out from a quick round-trip to the desert to make a full report today. Wow, I feel exactly as though I've done this before, only this time I drove. The runway is in pretty much the same place as in 2000. It's smoother, but softer. I grabbed last year's sketched and moved the windsock and runway to better approximate this year's situation. Runway 2001 Plan.

I did preliminary survey marking on less than 1/2 of the runway before running out of daylight, and you probably can't see those markings from the air anyway. The windsock pole is up with a few streamers because the windsock frame broke yesterday and needs to be welded.

Landing in the area where the runway is indicated is recommended after a low pass or two to check the surface. DON'T land on the desert road! It's worse than the virgin playa surface. Not a problem to taxi across, but not the best for landing.

DON'T land between the road and the fence! There's a huge serpent's nest of bumps and small stays scattered here and there.

Runway survey marking should be complete by Monday mid-day, and the enhanced marking (so you can see it from the air) should be done very shortly after. The emergency medevac helipad takes precedence. I'm returning on Sunday, the 26th, and expect several planes to be there already, so don't worry if you are coming in on Monday, just call Black Rock unicom on 122.9 for advisories.

I have a long, sad story to tell about pickup truck troubles, lost materials, bent and broken windsocks, misplaced fences (but not lost), container tugs-of-war, but will spare you all of that so I can get some sleep tonight. by the way, the weather was wonderful while I was up there. Not bad at all on the dust, but I can see the potential for more dust with more traffic and more wind. The runway will be watered if needed. The surface is better than I expected to find after hearing all the bad things about it this year. In past years, it's been perfect. Well, it's not perfect this year, but it's not all that bad, either.

Oh, to those of you wanting GPS coordinates. I DON'T HAVE ANY! No GPS, no coordinates. Go to your Klamath Falls Sectional. That's right, the old paper thing. Find the Empire Airport, 1A8. North of that is the town of Gerlach. Fly 6 nm northeast and you can't miss it.